Ricky Hatton: Luis Collazo

www.fightnews.com

by graham houston

Ricky Hatton makes his American main event debut, fights for the first time on Home Box Office and steps up to welterweight when he meets shifty southpaw Luis Collazo in what is seen as a prelude to big things — very big things indeed — for the undefeated crowd-pleaser from Manchester.

There are big fights awaiting Hatton if he wins. Floyd Mayweather Jr., Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto and possibly the winner of the Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales rubber match are among the intriguing possibilities, while HBO sage Larry Merchant even threw out the possibility of Hatton meeting Oscar De La Hoya when wrapping up last weekend’s De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga PPV coverage, which I watched on tape after getting back to base from Las Vegas.

Hatton is in the pleasant position of being a 140-pound champion who will be challenging for a 147-pound belt when he meets the 25-year-old New Yorker Collazo, who pulled off an upset 13 months ago when winning the World Boxing Association title with a split decision win over Jose Antonio Rivera on his opponent’s home turf at Worcester, MA — a win that looks even better after Rivera’s victory over Alejandro “Terra” Garcia to win a 154-pound championship last weekend.

Reports indicate that Hatton is looking strong and muscled at welter. If he wins impressively against Collazo he will almost certainly remain at the heavier weight rather than going through the ordeal of getting down to 140 pounds again.

He should win, of course, but Collazo is a confident, capable fighter who could give the British favourite more trouble than generally expected.

Collazo has become a stronger, better fighter since suffering his only loss in 27 bouts when he was stopped in the third round by the tall, rangy and hard-hitting Colombian Olympic representative Edwin Cassiani in Las Vegas four years ago.

In that fight — which was televised on ShoBox — Collazo was boxing well for two rounds but got caught by a big right hand in the third round. Although he stayed on his feet he was clearly hurt and referee Jay Nady waved the finish, much to Collazo’s dismay: he protested angrily, and I made the note that it was a “bit of a quick stoppage”.

Since then Collazo has won 14 bouts in a row. He boxed a near-perfect fight, mixing up smart boxing with two-handed punching, when he won a unanimous decision over the heavy-handed Puerto Rican Felix Flores in October 2004 — he had Flores on the floor with a right uppercut from his southpaw stance and one judge gave Collazo every round.

Defeating the much more experienced Jose Antonio Rivera against the odds was, obviously, Collazo’s biggest win, while he was sharp and impressive last August when beating up a sadly faded former lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez in seven rounds of target practice.

Hatton, with 40 consecutive wins (30 KOs) is by far the more seasoned boxer but Collazo is a winning fighter with a winner’s attitude and I think he is going to be a difficult opponent in the earlier rounds with his southpaw stance, smart moves and hand speed.

Hatton’s trainer, Billy Graham, gave an appraisal of Collazo in a phone conversation last week: “Fast hands, tricky, but not a particularly awkward southpaw — but a good southpaw. He can look after himself inside. In his last fight, Gonzalez was completely shot. I’ve just seen the Rivera fight [on tape], 12 hard rounds. He’s a good kid, but I think Ricky will get to him, I think he’ll stop him — but I think it’s going to be very lively.”

One thing that does concern Graham is the possibility of his man getting cut — a recurring problem throughout Hatton’s career: he was sliced over both eyes inside three rounds in last November’s fight with Carlos Maussa although dominating before knocking out the ungainly Colombian in the ninth.

“We always worry about cuts,” Graham said. “I’ve learned to expect them. They always seem to come early — and against a southpaw it’s even more dangerous. That’s a bit of a fear, but as far as I’m concerned I’ve got a great cuts man in Mick Williamson — he’s the best in the business — so that’s covered, and Ricky handles the situation well. Other than that, I do see Ricky beating him inside the distance. There’s a difference in class; he’s not fought anyone like Ricky — Ricky’s a pressure fighter but he’s real smart. Rivera was an attacking fighter, but not with the class and intensity that Ricky has.”

I agree with Billy Graham that Hatton’s constant pressure and high workrate is likely to tell on Collazo.

Also, as Graham points out, Hatton is a thinking fighter. He knows how to shift positions when he attacks, coming first from one side, then the other, and I think his speed catches a lot of his opponents by surprise because he is on them and hitting them with quick punches before they quite know what is happening.

Although Hatton was a bit wild and reckless in the fight with Maussa I tend to think that problems outside the ring — the split from his longtime promoter Frank Warren and the accompanying unpleasantness that goes with these matters — affected Hatton to the point where he just wanted to go in the ring, hit Maussa on the chin and and get the whole thing over with. I feel we will see a much sharper, more disciplined — but relentless — Hatton in this fight.

With a new promotional team — Britain’s Fight Academy and American Art Pelullo’s Banner Promotions — and the HBO connection, this is in a sense a new beginning for Hatton at the age of 27 and I think that he will be primed to put on a powerful, purposeful and fast-paced performance.

I get the impression that Collazo hits harder than his record suggests, but with only 12 opponents stopped in his 26 wins I do not see how he can hurt Hatton enough to contain the British boxer’s full-bore attack: If Hatton could take the hammer blows of Kostya Tszyu and keep coming, how, then, can Collazo keep him off?

Although Hatton is moving up in weight I feel that he is the stronger man here. Collazo’s win over Jose Antonio Rivera was truly commendable but Rivera now says he had to lose 25 pounds and felt drained on the night: I do not think that Collazo will have faced anyone with the physical strength, talent, pressure and combinations that he will encounter when he meets Hatton.

The arena in Boston will be rocking, the energy level boosted by thousands of Hatton’s British fans — the American boxer might feel as if he is the visiting fighter.

Collazo stands in the way of the British superstar marching on towards a possible multi-million dollar American future and I think that Hatton will be determined to remove the obstacle from his path in a ruthless fashion.

I believe that Collazo will be in the fight early but that Hatton will start to break him down with a sustained attack — including his trademark body battering — by the seventh or eighth; I visualise Hatton coming on strongly and Collazo wilting. It will, I feel, be a long fight rather than a short one but I do see Hatton overwhelming Collazo before the final bell — perhaps in the 10th or 11th round.

Last Updated: May 12, 2006 12:33am

Hatton 8th round stoppage....

This fight has the makings of Trinidad Joppy. And it has the makings of Pacquiao Marquez. Which route..which route ;)

Ricky Hatton can be many things but he is ALWAYS entertaining.
I'm paying the money to see this because it will be thoroughly watchable.
I don't know much about Collazo apart from what I've read but he does have a reasonably solid rep as a tasty southpaw so I'm going to go with a 9th round stoppage to the hitman.
Watch those cuts 'Hitman.'